Death by Lion

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Geo: -12.8546, 31.311

As mentioned in the earlier story about the leopards, we had come across a herd of zebra grazing. They were very beautiful and quite healty looking when we noticed one of them had a bad cut on it rear. James said the wound looked quite fresh and that the lions were probably somewhere nearby.

We drove on a little further, turned the corner and there were a bunch of safari vehicles looking at something. There they were, five lions scattered out on the grass in the shade near a lagoon. They were part of the same pride we have been seeing and one of the females had a collar on. They seemed to be just relaxing and possibly cooling off. We then noticed there was a puku down in the edge of the lagoon looking around. Mauro asked why it didn't just run off. James said these lions were part of a very large pride and the rest of the group could be anywhere around.

Then suddenly things started happening. Please understand, it was rapid sequence without any visible cues that most of us could pick up. James did say just as the female in front of us sat up, "She is getting ready to hunt." The female with the collar all of a sudden tensed and seemed to be looking intently and then she was up and one of the other females on the other side of our vehicle was moving and before James could get our vehicle turned around and in position one of the lions had the puku by the neck and then the other proceeded to tear it open. Very brutal, but this is part of nature and we were there to witness it.

The lions made quick work of their kill and in less than 45 minutes there was little left of the puku. The vultures had begun to circle around but were chased away when they tried to move in on the remains. The people that were camped next to us had come up after the initial kill and said their children were disturbed by what they were seeing but talked to the kids about the realities of what they were seeing.

The Carnivore Project was on site and had monitored who the lions were that were present. On the way back to the camp we saw some more nice elephants and zebra. This had been such a intense morning we had neglected to have our tea time. Gave James a little grief about that!

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Photos

group of yellow billed storks
they were in a line fishing

Death by Lion
this is the same pride we have seen on other kills in the park. At this point they are resting and enjoying the cool. And there happens to be a buck down on the water's edge.

Death by Lion
easy way to get a shot of a lion as they are resting so there are usually lots of vehicles around

Death by Lion
is she sniffing the air?

Death by Lion
notice the collar. She is one of the ones the Carnivore Project is tracking to keep up with the various prides of lions

Death by Lion
suddenly she tenses and go on alert

Death by Lion
no visible signal but one from other side moves into position

Death by Lion
it all happens so very fast